01. Feathers Under My Skin02. Tracing The Path Of Blood03. When Mind Escapes Flesh04. Within This Soil05. Those Gates To Nothing06. Through Flames I Shield07. Hemmed By Light08. Shaped By Darkness

What Ephel Duath gave us here is a collection of sort of bizarre riffs and sort of bizarre time-signaturing and sort of bizarre vocals that seem like they were tossed together more for the sake of seeming bizarre than for the sake of making good music.

That's the impression I'm getting. I don't listen to much prog and psychedelic stuff, and these guys seem to be wading in proggy and psychedelic(ish) territory on this, but I doubt that anyone who likes said types of music will find much to enjoy on this anyway.

Songs all start out in a promising enough way here (either weirdly or in a catchy way), but they never seem to go anywhere. It feels like these guys were trying too hard to come off as ahead of the curve, putting the pursuit for solid tuneage to the back. There's a dishonest feel to the album as a whole, and that's the sort of thing that even a handful of good songs can't fully redeem.

And there really aren't a handful of good songs on this.

And even if there were more technical prowess (and there is some) from the guitarists, it wouldn't change the fact that the whole album is caked in vocals that sound more suiting for a roll call during an after school meeting of hot topicked satanists under the bleachers.

They seem to have been going for a bright, black metallic sort of sheen (maybe a Nachtmystium-y sheen), but what they ended up with and what we ended up with is some small piles of promising tidbits, then large heaps of motionless (and emotionless) moments that lack any kind of fire to keep things moving and interesting.

Comments

I'm guessing this is your first experience with the band? They definitely aren't for everyone, which is evidenced in the range of reviews this album is receiving. This album will please fans of the band I think but will be hit or miss with those that are hearing them for the first time.

Karyn always reminded my 80s-kid ass of Judy Tenuta. (I know I'm old. Haha.) I do think it is bizarre (the word of the day?) that she ended up resurfacing in a band like this, though.

I think (hope?) the only reason she surfaced again is because she married the guitarist/founding member/main songwriter of Ephel Duath, Davide Tiso. I'm not really a fan of her vocal work from what I've heard so far... although none of the Ephel Duath albums I've heard so far have had good vocals really.

I've only heard one song off this one, and same for the EP before it, but have a few of their albums and I can fully understand how/why someone would feel this way about their music and I think it is a very fair assessment.

I get the feeling that Tiso could write an album I really really enjoy because there are instrumental parts all over the albums that I love, although they are a bit spread out and, depending on my mood, the vocals can be hard to stomach between them. I'll probably pick this up when I spot it, while I wait with futile hopes that he will make an instrumental album that focuses more on his jazzy side.

I am VERY reluctant to have negative feelings because I love everything from old-school death, to depressive black metal, to happyass power metal, and I study the nuances of what the songwriters are attempting to pull off. I agree about the songwriter being able to entertain. Oddly enough, I actually like offsetting and jagged Frankenstein's Monster compositions. I was really just being funny about Karyn's chosen tones. I do applaud her ability to do what she does over and over and stay "strong" in her style.....whether it gels with me or not. I know sometimes, just sometimes, someone's songwriting choices are obvious dishonesty and forced. But I really don't hear that here. I just hear "I love WEIRD!" from the members.

Wow, this album is awesome, and this review delayed my listening to this album for almost a year. I haven't seen any review on MS with which I more strongly disagree. It is hard to categorize this. It isn't like their prior albums, or any other band. It is slightly progressive, and psychedelic as mentioned, but also doomy-avant-melodic, and still with strong rhythms. Very timeless and hard to guess only by songwriting when it was written. I think Madder Mortem fans would enjoy this and vice versa.